Warhammer 40K Leagues of Votann New Releases

The Leagues of Votann have finally arrived in Games Workshop's epic sci-fi miniature wargame Warhammer 40K. Short, stout, and ruthless, these rugged armies are all about gathering resources, selling their muscle to the highest bidder, and coming in bearing huge and heavy firepower. We originally reviewed the Army Box set when it first launched, and now we're lucky enough to get shipped a full suite of new Leagues of Votann releases from Games Workshop ahead of their release (they go up for preorder today), so read on for our thoughts on The Leagues of Votann!

Leagues of Votann - Grimnyr

Let's start with the League's most potent Psyker on the battlefield, the Grminyr. This unit includes one Grimnyr model and two floating CORV units. The CORV units offer decent firepower with 24" bolters, and the entire unit as a 4+ ward save. The Grimnyr model can attempt to manifest two Psychic powers and deny one Psychic power during the Psychic phase, and they know Smite and two psychic powers from the Skeinwrought discipline. These Psychic powers are extremely useful and varied, dealing mortal wounds, ignoring invulnerable saves, fortifying the toughness of other models, and more. One really useful aspect of this unit that we haven't seen much before is that, should your Grimnyr fail their Psychic test and suffer perils of the warp, instead one CORV unit is destroyed! While not quite a game-changer model, you can't ask for better support in your Leagues of Votann army. Keep your Grimnyr safe and near (but not too close) to the action, and he'll be a buffing and pinging machine.

As for the model itself, I absolutely love the look of Grimnyr. The way he floats on rubble that seems to levitate with his psychic power is truly a sight to behold.

Leagues of Votann - Hearthkyn Warriors

The Hearthkyn Warriors are really the most "standard" unit you can bring to the battlefield in your Leagues of Votann army, but they're so well-equipped as each model in the unit comes with a bolt pistol, a bolter, and concussion grenades. Their stats are pretty standard, with one wound each (except the leader who has two), a 4+ save, and a move of 5". You can easily upgrade this unit with stronger weapons like ion weaponry, and you can equip the unit with a Medipack, a comms array, and a scanner allowing them to ignore light cover on enemies they target. All in all, these units will do a lot of the heavy lifting on the battlefield, but there's so much more to explore for the Leagues army, and I love that even these basic units A. look really damn cool and B. can lay down some real firepower on the field.

Leagues of Votann - Einhyr Hearthguard

The Leagues of Votann Einhyr Hearthguard are essentially a unit of walking tanks, armed with tough exo-armor and a huge array of weaponry. Every model is equipped with a plasma gun, a grenade launcher, and a concussion gauntlet. It's the addition of these grenade launchers to these models that truly makes them stand out, as they're a sturdy unit who can get up in the action, but they can also all lob grenades into the fray, making them a multi-faceted unit ready for whatever your opponents throw at them.

Leagues of Votann - Einhyr Champion

Next up is a single model unit for Leagues of Votann, the Einhyr Champion. The Einhyr Champion is a heavily armored, hard-hitting brute. With a 2-up Weapon and Ballistics Skill, a Strength and Toughness of 5, and 5 wounds, this unit wants to be in the middle of trouble. Armed with a combi-bolter and a Mass Hammer (which suffers a -1 to attack rolls but deals D3+3 wounds), he's also heavily fortified with a 4+ invulnerable save, Exo-armor which subtracts 1 from the damage characteristic of all attacks made against him, and -1 to wound rolls made against him. You can also equip him with a teleportation crest, allowing you to set him aside and set him up later in the movement phase 9" from enemies (but anywhere on the board). Sneak him where he shouldn't be at the start of the game, and let him start smashing!

Leagues of Votann - Brôkhyr Iron-master

The Brôkhyr Iron-master is the "Mister Fix-It" of the Leagues of Votann. Equipped with solid weaponry and surrounded by helpful robot buddies, the Iron-master is an incredible utility player with decent long-range firepower. If the Ironkin Assistant model in this unit is still on the table, the unit can perform actions even if it's advanced, and it can shoot without its action failing. The other really special aspect of this unit is its ability to repair vehicles and any League unit with Exo-armor (like the Einhyr Champion and Einhyr Hearthguard. As long as one of those units is within 3" of this unit at the end of the movement phase, they regain D3 lost wounds. 

Leagues of Votann - Brôkhyr Thunderkyn

With a 3+ save and 3 wounds each, the Brôkhyr Thunderkyn are lumbering death-machines. Equipped with powerful bolt cannons, these hulking blasters come three to a pack and have a 3+ save, 3 wounds each, and have a ballistics skill of 3+. They also come equipped with Omni-visors, which allows them to ignore dense cover when attacking a foe. You can swap out their Bolt cannons for Graviton blast cannons (which deal more damage to models with a save characteristic of 3+ or better) or SP conversion beamer, which attacks out in a beam. These are your walking heavy artillery, and they can do some serious damage on the tabletop.

Leagues of Votann - Cthonian Beserks

The Leagues of Votann Cthonian Beserks are heavily augmented with tech to make their bodies stronger and more durable. Most of these models come armed with a heavy plasma axe which has two attack profiles: Strike which does two damage per wound, and sweep which does one damage per wound but allows you to roll two hit rolls per attack instead of one (and these units come with three attacks each). One of your models in this unit can be built with a Mole grenade launcher and that unit is built with a L-COG (robot) on its base. This makes for a dynamic look to this unit, and adds some extra and varies ranged firepower to this melee-focused unit.

Leagues of Votann - Sagitaur

Now it's time to start talking vehicles. The small and sturdy Sagitaur is a transport vehicle with some serious weaponry. Able to carry up to five infantry models (though none that wear bulky exo-armor), the Sagitaur has a move of 12" and is armed with a beam cannon and a twin bolt cannon. The firepower is nothing to sneeze at, but there's really something to be said for being able to zip around the battlefield with your (normally slower-moving) Cthonian Beserks, getting them right into the heat of the action a few turns faster than they can get there themselves.

Leagues of Votann - Hekaton Land Fortress

Finally, it's time to talk about the biggest, baddest unit available to the Leagues of Votann, the Hekaton Land Fortress. This massive battle tank is a transport that can carry up to 12 infantry (exo-armored units take up two spaces, exo-frame units take up three) and is outfitted with an entire arsenal on it. Each Land Fortress is equipped with a cyclic ion cannon (which attacks 3D3 times at strength 8 Blast, dealing 2 damage per wound), a MATR autocannon dealing Heavy 6 attacks, a pan spectral scanner (which negates its target's light cover), and four bolt cannons. That means, with this basic loadout (and there are customization options beyond this), you could be rolling as many as 23 D6's during a single ranged attack phase. And this isn't just a big easy target for your opponents, coming with 16 wounds and a near-unbelievable 2+ save.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On The Leagues Of Votann New Releases?

First off, the look of these models is really unlike anything else we've seen in Warhammer up to this point. Just from a visual perspective, these short, squat models will look truly striking on the table, especially if painted following the bold and fairly saturated color schemes as laid out in the lore. Of all the models we reviewed, I think the Sagitaur was the most satisfying to build (I love the clear-plastic "glass" on this model) and the coolest looking of the group, but each model has their own great look going on. On the tabletop in our playtesting, these units hit hard. You do have to be careful with them, as that 5" range isn't the speediest in the game by a long-shot, but they really are meant to be plopped down on objectives or in front of scary enemies and allowed to unleash their volleys of ballistic weaponry.

Should I Buy The Leagues of Votann New Releases?

If you've already purchased the Leagues of Votann Army Box Set, these new releases will perfectly round out your forces and create a very potent army. You obviously don't need to pick all of these units up, but if you're trying to build a smallish army I would suggest some Hearthkyn Warriors (obviously), some Cthonian Beserks, a Sagitaur to scoot them all around the battlefield, and one of the exo-armored units for extra oomph.

BONUS: Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Predator Support Tank

Surprise! We were also sent a Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Predator Support Tank to check out alongside all these amazing Leagues of Votann models, and we wanted to take a moment here to talk about it. The Predator Support Tank uses the same profile as the traditional Predator Tank, but it comes with many more turret options. You can outfit this tank with an Executioner Plasma Destroyer, a flamestorm cannon, a magna-melta cannon, a heavy conversion beam cannon, or a neutron blaster. I love how "into the weeds" Horus Heresy gets with its tanks and their weapon load outs, and the new Predator Support Tank may be one of the most customizable options we've yet seen from HH.

All products used in the creation of this review were provided by Games Workshop.